Three videos, purportedly from Canada, have surfaced on the social media in which men, suspected to be based in Canada, are seen giving threats to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, a matter which the state police is examining.
Bittu met the chief minister today and suggested that the Ministry of External Affairs should be asked to take up the matter as it seemed these "elements were operating from Canada.
"In one of the videos, a man is seen making objectionable remarks against former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated in 1995, and his grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu, the Congress MP from Ludhiana.
The man is also heard blaming Amarinder and Bittu claiming they did not extended the due regard to Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan when he visited India recently. In the second video, another man warns Amarinder and Bittu to not visit Canada in future.
He tells Bittu to recall how his grandfather was killed. Posters of militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale can be seen in the background. In another poster the word Canada can be seen.
In the third video too, a man is seen accusing Congress of being anti-Sikh and makes objectionable remarks about the party's leaders. When contacted, Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora indicated that his department had taken note of the videos. "Anybody making such threats or those of some other kind, we always take cognisance," Arora said.
Bittu and his cousin Gurkirat Singh Kotli, who too is a Congress MLA, said their family will not be cowed down. "In the video, these men are saying their men have reached Punjab to eliminate us. They are telling me to recall the time my grandfather was assassinated and threatening to eliminate me," Bittu told reporters.
But we have never felt scared and are standing like a shield amongst the people of Punjab, he said.
"If they think by spilling our blood, they can achieve their nefarious designs, then we are ready to face them," he added.
Bittu said that he met Chief Minister Singh here today and updated him about these threats. "I told the Chief Minister that the Ministry of External Affairs and other agencies should see how these elements are operating in Canada and elsewhere and issuing open threats," Bittu said.
Kotli said "such forces whose roots are in Pakistan again want to disturb the hard earned peace in the state". "But our family is not scared of such cowardly threats. Sardar Beant Singh sacrificed his life for Punjab, these threats cannot keep us down," Kotli said.
NOT AFRAID OF THREATS, DON'T NEED MORE SECURITY: PUNJAB CM AMARINDER SINGH
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today said he is not afraid of threats to his life from pro-Khalistan elements and that there was no question of enhancing his security.
He dismissed media reports that the Punjab government has sought Z-plus security from the Centre for him and Bittu, saying the state police was ‘more than capable of protecting the people, including Congress leaders’.
"There is no question of approaching the central government for more security. I have full faith in the capabilities of Punjab police, which is doing an excellent job," the CM said.
Singh in a statement said he was more than ready to take on ‘such forces which are trying hard to disrupt peace and harmony in Punjab. I will do everything in my power to thwart their nefarious designs’.
The Chief Minister said he and his government will not be cowed down by the threats from such ‘spineless people who do not have the courage to come to Punjab and openly confront him’.
He said if pro-Khalistan elements came to Punjab, his government will ‘take suitable action to ensure that they do not get away with their cowardly threats and attempts to revive terrorism in the state’.
The Punjab government will retaliate in a suitable manner to ensure that peace in the state is not disturbed at any cost, he said.
An official spokesperson in the Chief Minister's Office also said Singh was not going seek additional security in the wake of the threats.
The Chief Minister has clearly told his officials and colleagues in the government that there should be no move on their part to scale up his security cover, the spokesperson said.
He said that organisations like Sikhs for Justice, which was purportedly behind some of the videos doing the rounds on social media, "were being supported, overtly or covertly, by certain Indian-origin members of Canadian Parliament".
These elements were bringing a bad name to the NRI Sikh community and diluting the latter's contribution to the development and progress of those countries, including Canada, he added.
LUDHIANA MP RAVNEET BITTU GETS BULLET-PROOF SUV AFTER THREAT FROM RADICALS
On Wednesday evening, a bullet-proof Mitshubishi Montero reached Bittu’s residence here at civil lines. The vehicle was sent by the chief minister’s office as part of the upgraded security apparatus for the MP in the wake of “threat perception” to the leader.
Pickets are also being constructed outside the residence of the MP for Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel provided by the central government.
Speaking on the threat of radicals, Bittu said, “These people ran away from Punjab to Canada and other countries 20 years ago where they took asylum. Now, all these radical elements have set up their businesses and are issuing venomous statements only to spoil the peace of Punjab that has been achieved by so many sacrifices.”
Bittu said such videos are being circulated only to arouse the emotions of young Punjabis and spoil the peace in the state.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress general secretary Amarjeet Singh has claimed that he has received threat calls from unknown persons from France. He has submitted a letter to Punjab director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora in this regard.
